Fort Providence (Sep 19/03) - Plans to build a Mackenzie River bridge are into the final stretch, according to Deh Cho MLA Michael McLeod.

All permitting applications for the two-lane span have been submitted.

The Deh Cho Bridge Corporation has also chosen TD Securities as its lending institution for the project, McLeod noted. The price tag is $55 million, five million of which the bridge corporation must supply in equity.

The bridge corporation is short-listing construction companies that have applied to work on the project, he added.

"We're going to maximize Northern use," said McLeod. "However, viability is still something we have to consider in every aspect."

Construction on the bridge is still being targeted to begin late this year, but that's conditional on approval from the territorial government, he said. The GNWT is expected to take control of the bridge after 35 years. Until then the bridge corporation will collect $5-$6 per ton in commercial tolls to help cover debt and costs.

The territorial government wants to review the final budget numbers and have the final bridge design evaluated by an independent firm.

"I'm very confident that it's going to be a project that's going to go ahead. But like anything in life it's not 100 per cent certain," McLeod said. "We have to convince the government that it can and will be done."

Russ Neudorf, director of planning and policy with the Department of Transportation, said his department is upbeat that the bridge will be built. It would put an end to the high-priced helicopter shuttling that's currently needed twice each year as the ice bridge comes and goes.

"We certainly are very positive that we'll reach a successful agreement," said Neudorf. "There is a little bit of work to do... we're very optimistic that there will be good news at the end of negotiations."

Fort Providence started examining the idea of building a bridge three years ago. The scope of the project has been enormous, McLeod noted.

"If we took every section I'm sure we could fill somebody's book shelf with lots of paper," he said. "It's a big business deal... it's long and hard and sometimes frustrating."